


And the Walls Keep Tumbling Down

by WreakingHavok



Category: Sanders Sides, Thomas Sanders, Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Blood, Gen, I don’t know if this is even good, Whoooo another blurb, and my poor baby Logan kinda loses it, hopefully everything makes sense, just a little bit of - Freeform, mean jerks from mean governments agencies are mean, not much violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-15
Updated: 2018-04-11
Packaged: 2019-03-19 00:55:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13693509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WreakingHavok/pseuds/WreakingHavok
Summary: The Originals and their Sides are different, and people don’t know what they are. So naturally, humanity hunts them down before they themselves become the prey.





	1. Logos

There are a select few in the world whose personality is split into Sides. Those Sides have their own individual personalities and abilities, and are capable of transporting themselves into the physical plane if needed by the Original. The Sides live to serve the Original and help them through all of their troubles.

However, the public fears the Originals and more prevalently, their Sides. The Department of Side Control and Safety is tasked with rounding up the Originals and their respective Sides. Those unfortunate enough to be discovered and caught spend the rest of their lives in a laboratory, being studied and experimented on in the name of Public Safety.

The Originals and their Sides are different, and people don’t know what they are. So naturally, humanity hunts them down before they themselves become the prey.

  
~

It’s three in the morning when Thomas wakes up.

This is the worst possible night for Thomas’s insomnia to appear, Logan thinks, watching the lights in his room slowly increase in intensity. Then again, maybe it’s only Virgil, and we can deal with it and go back to sleep.

Needless to say, Logan appreciates what little sleep he can get.

He’d been up very late last night thinking of a plan to make sure Thomas had food, gas, and a house for the next three months. He does this often, as it is his job. If he didn’t do it, Thomas would be out on the street and dead within a year.

The whole Mindscape flickers and brightens as Thomas experiences a burst of adrenaline. His brain begins to wake up and kick into action, surprising Logan. This is the opposite of what Logan wants to see. First, why was Thomas so awake? Secondly, why had no one come to call him? Certainly they weren’t thinking of talking through an issue without Logic.

This is very out of the ordinary.

If Thomas ever does wake up due to unforeseen circumstances, he usually can fall back asleep again very quickly. If he doesn’t, and something (cough cough) Virgil (cough cough) is keeping him awake, Patton usually summons them for a meeting and they collectively lull Thomas to sleep again.

Logan lies there, curled up in his NASA fleece blanket, and waits for that to happen - waits for Patton to show up or for the lights to dim.

He waits for five minutes, counting the seconds, and the lights stay on. In fact, they seem to be getting brighter. And there is no sign of Patton or any other Side.

He ignores the uneasy feeling that he’s trying to push aside.

If something were wrong, Patton would be here. If something were wrong, Logan would know about it. This was just a fluke.

He sighs, wearily sliding out of bed and stands up. He makes sure to change his clothes from his onesie pajamas to his usual formal attire, and sinks out of his room and into the Mindscape’s hallway.

He peeks into Patton’s room. There’s no one there. The stuffed animals that litter his bed look droopier than usual, and the curtains are drawn over the window.

He very briefly checks Virgil’s room. There’s no sign of the reclusive Side, which is odd. Virgil tends to spend most of his time in his room, especially during hours when one would normally be sleeping.

Logan shakes off the worry building in his chest and blames it on the room. Virgil must be the cause of the insomnia - maybe it’s that audition coming up soon. He’s probably in the physical plane. With Patton.

He glances one last time at the darker than usual (and unnervingly empty) room and sinks out to go check on Roman.

Once, Logan didn’t knock on Roman’s door and simply rose up inside the room, only to discover he’d interrupted Roman’s “creative process”. Long story short, he was almost decapitated by a three story dragon. Roman had apologized and Logan had lectured him on taking dangerous creative liberties with the Mindscape.

He had learned his lesson about Roman’s privacy, however, so Logan rises up just outside of Roman’s garishly decorated door, and raps three times on the wood

There’s no answer.

Logan knocks again. “Roman?”

No answer.

So he cautiously pushes open the door, the churning gut feeling the something isn’t right overriding his fear. He’s met with another empty room.

And by empty, he means it in the most literal sense possible.

The walls are white and blindingly bright, devoid of any of Roman’s usual posters and glittery drawings. The floor glows around his feet and Logan can feel his heart rate picking up.

The Mindscape is losing all of its beauty and reverting to a simple white expanse. Roman was the one who maintained the rooms, tailoring each one to each person. And now that was all disintegrating. He’s stupid, really. He doesn’t know how he missed it. The lights glowing brighter, and that book he’d left on his nightstand last night hadn’t been there when he’d woken up.

Something is very wrong with Roman.

When he turns back, the door to Roman’s room has burned away. Logan can see their individual rooms slowly succumbing to the blank white slate, and Logan takes a deep breath.

He sinks out, aiming for the room Thomas currently occupies.

The blinding white of the mindscape vanishes and is replaced by a familiar blackness. He realizes something else as he does so - the other Sides are quiet. Usually there’s a loud humming from each personality - a way of saying I’m here. Even if you can’t see me.

Logan stops halfway through sinking out - out of one room but not quite into the other. Something is very very wrong.

His heart is beating out of his chest. Where is Patton? Where is Virgil? Why had neither of them come to warn him about Roman? And where was Roman? What on earth was wrong with him? It was as if he’d been ripped from Thomas’s mind and all of his influence in the Mindscape had just disappeared.

Like when Virgil had decided to “duck out”, as he put it - except that Roman couldn’t possibly remove himself completely - he was a core Side, they just couldn’t do that. And besides, what reason would he have?

But if they are in trouble, he’s all the hope they have. He needs to think logically about this.

Thomas has the ability to summon him. If there truly was danger, surely Thomas would’ve alerted him.

Logan swallows his fear - that’s not your job, idiot, think - and rises up into Thomas’s bedroom.

He’s expecting to see Thomas curled up under his blanket and contemplating the meaning of life - maybe Virgil lying next to him and Patton comforting them both. Maybe Roman is there too - and Logan hopes he is because the Mindscape is empty and decaying and he’s worried. He sighs. He’ll appear and they’ll tell him everything’s okay, he got worked up over nothing. Again.

This is what he expects. This is what he tries to convince himself he’ll see.

He arrives in the room and his quick assessment proves that he’s not wrong - all four of them are there.

Patton, sitting rigidly on Thomas’s bed, hands behind his back. A trickle of blood runs down his temple from a small cut on his hairline. Virgil, curled up into Patton’s side, anxiously biting his nails and shaking. His hands are bound by handcuffs. Roman, knocked unconscious and dumped rather unceremoniously beside Virgil, sword gone. And Thomas, kneeling on the ground in his grey shirt and blue pajama pants, a grimace coating his features and a gun held to the back of his head.

A blinking red light shines from a thin metal collar latched around each Side’s neck. Thomas has one too.

Logan’s heart skips a few beats. He recognizes those collars - they close off the Side’s ability to enter and leave the Mindscape and remove the Original’s ability to control them.

And there’s a gun. Pointed at Thomas’s head.

He blinks, taking a more detailed assessment of the whole room this time, and almost shrieks in terror.

At least five armed agents of the Department of Side Control and Safety stand with their weapons aimed - one of them threatening Thomas, one of them pointing the gun at Patton and Virgil, and the other three have taken aim at Logan.

“There’s another one,” one of them shouts.

Logan wants to scream.

A gun swings to point at his face. Cold metal snaps around his neck, the collar taking effect immediately, and it feels like a part of him has died.

“Sit down, hands in sight. Don’t struggle.”

How could this happen? They had been so careful. Thomas had never mentioned his Sides to anyone - no one knew he was an Original, no one had ever seen them in the physical plane -

“Logan,” Virgil hisses. His voice wavers and breaks in several places. “Do what they say. Sit down.” Logan doesn’t answer. He can’t.

“Sit down right next to the blue shirt.”

This isn’t possible. They’d taken every precaution.

“Last warning, figment.” The derogatory term doesn’t even earn the armed agents a flinch. Logan thinks he might be in shock - he’s shaking, he’s sweating, but this can’t be happening -

He doesn’t know why he’s scared. Emotions aren’t his department - stop shaking, stop tearing up -

“Logan.“ Thomas makes eye contact with him and manages to start a sentence before the agent holding him at gunpoint slams their hand over his mouth. Listen to them, please.

Logan knows it’s the logical thing to do. But this is definitely shock - or Virgil’s grown in power since the last twenty-four hours.

“Take him down, Fiver.”

Their words mean nothing.

Thomas had read up on all the laws and behind the scenes regarding Sides, and Logan knew what their fate was to be. He knows of the horrors of the laboratories - knows the statistics of how many have died in the sterile white halls.

That’s why he’s scared. He has every right to be. Because if the agony and injustice ahead of them is enough to make Logan - Logic - the most unfeeling out of all of them - want to curl up and cry, well then.

Thomas won’t last a week.

“Logan -“ Patton yelps at him, voice high pitched and scared. “Watch -“

It’s too late - a sharp pain explodes in the back of his head and he crumples.

His arms are yanked roughly behind him and his vision blurs. Useless. He’s Logic - he should’ve fought more, thought his way out of it, but this was new - this was scary -

But if even Roman couldn’t win against them, then Logan didn’t stand a chance.

Patton is full on crying now, muffling his quiet sobs in Virgil’s shoulder. Virgil’s eyes are blown wide, and nothing but terror registers in his expression. Fight or flight, Logan thinks. And Roman - lying unconscious on the bed - that explains the Mindscape disintegrating.

Of course, even though they are trapped in the physical plane, their influence on Thomas won’t be removed. They will never truly leave Thomas - not even Virgil, unless he decides to pull his influence.

Logan looks at Thomas - expression mimicking Virgil’s and tears beginning to well up.

Thomas had had nightmares of this day - being dragged away by the DSCS. But now his nightmares are reality and Logan can’t do anything but shake and fight back tears.

And he doesn’t even know how they’d been found out. They’d done everything to keep them a secret. They’d even called out Deceit - who had been instrumental in their coverups.

Things really were desperate when you had to rely on a Dark Side.

He feels metal against his wrists. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that he’s being handcuffed.

He doesn’t know how they were found. He doesn’t know what’s going to happen. He doesn’t know a lot of things and he hates not knowing, but maybe this time it’s for the best.

Logan is tired of thinking. So he closes his eyes, and lets everything fade to black. He still can’t feel the other Sides in his mind, and to his dismay the blackness isn’t comforting anymore.

Their presences are just - gone. Ripped away by the astounding technology of the collar around his neck.

He’s alone.

In the privacy and confines of unconsciousness and his dreams, he finally lets himself cry.

~

File: Subject 24

Thomas Foley Sanders  
Born April 24, 1989

Taken into Custody: January 27, 2018

Current Age: 28 years  
Height: [Redacted]  
Weight: [Redacted]  
Hair: Blond  
Eyes: Brown  
Ethnicity: Caucasian  
Place of Birth: [Redacted] Florida, USA  
Place of Residence: [Redacted] Florida, USA

Known Sides: Four

(In Order of Appearance)

Side #1:

Trait: Anxiety

Name: Virgil

Appearance: Bangs, purple patchwork hoodie, dark eyeshadow under eyes

Notes: Will be updated as more tests are performed.

Side #2:

Trait: Morality/Emotion

Name: Patton/Dad

Appearance: Black-rimmed glasses, blue polo shirt, grey cardigan with sleeves tied over his shoulders, i. e. a cape

Notes: Will be updated as more tests are performed.

Side #3

Trait: Creativity/Passion/Courage/Romance

Name: Roman/Princey

Appearance: An elaborate costume of a medieval prince, wears a sharp steel sword that can be conjured at any time

Notes: Will be updated as more tests are performed.

Side #4

Trait: Logicality/Knowledge/Common Sense

Name: Logan

Appearance: Same black-rimmed glasses as Side #2, black polo shirt and blue tie

Notes: Will be updated as more tests are performed.

~

This is just an idea I had at midnight and hurriedly typed it up! It probably won’t be continued. 

If you see anything wrong, confusing, or something OOC please let me know.

I really love the Sanders Sides you guys. So much.


	2. Pathos

Patton has never hated anything as much as he hates captivity, and he thinks he might scream if he has to look at these walls any longer. 

The room is a blinding white with a solid steel door and no windows, a single small ventilation shaft in the ceiling, and a small cot. There aren’t any sheets or blankets on the cot, and they took his cardigan away when they shoved him into the small cell. They took his glasses too, sealing them in a plastic bag, and so the world is a blur of bright white and the occasional grey.

There’s barely enough space in the room for the cot, and Patton curls up tighter on the hard and uncomfortable mattress. 

He fights the urge to cry. He did enough of that when they snapped the collar around his neck - when Roman’s eyes rolled up into his head and he collapsed, when Virgil was ripped from his side, screams echoing through Patton’s ears long after his cell door had been shut.

Patton’s whole body convulses with a shiver and his breath puffs out in a misty cloud. It’s gotta be below freezing in the room.

Logan had made sure they knew of the dangers of these labs and what exactly went on behind their reinforced steel doors. So far, Patton was sure they’d been experimenting with him, and he knew for sure Thomas was being studied. The scientists would wonder how the Sides and their Originals worked, Logan had said. How long can a Side last without eating? How long can a Side survive without oxygen? How long can a Side live when in extreme conditions?

Forever. It’ll be miserable - they’ll feel every ounce of pain a normal human would - but Sides don’t die unless their human is killed. Logan had told him it’s all neurological, no actual physical harm can come to them, but the pain receptors in their brains will register the damage. It’s a reflex to help their human, to be able to know when they’re hurt or in danger.

Patton wonders why the scientists in their starch white lab coats won’t just sit down and ask the Sides their questions. He would be happy to answer them and talk instead of freezing to death in a room, all alone.

Patton guesses that he’s been here about a week. A week of no human or Side contact, food, water, and no sleep. Not that he needs food, or sleep, but it helps to clear his head and helps pass the time. However, anytime he begins to drift off, the cold and heavy collar around his neck administers a shock that painfully jolts him out of whatever stupor he’d been in.

He misses sleep. He misses food. He misses water, he misses Thomas -

Patton stares mournfully at his wrists. Faint red circles where the skin has been rubbed raw glare at him, and he curls up tighter into himself. They’d kept the Sides and Thomas handcuffed the whole trip to the lab, and the ride was spent blindfolded and horribly quiet.

Patton shakes his wrist that still has a band of metal wrapped around it, chained to the bedpost that’s bolted to the floor. It rattles and echoes in the empty space, the only other noise his own breathing.

His thoughts stray to the others.

Virgil had clung to him the whole van ride, unable to stop shaking. He’d screamed when they’d ripped him from Patton’s side and Patton can feel the anxiety still ebbing from him through Thomas; it never really stops.

Roman and Logan hadn’t regained consciousness before they had been split up, and it’s killing him to not know if they’re okay.

He doubted any of them were okay.

They weren’t dead. They couldn’t die. They’d just suffer and scream until Thomas finally gave up or the scientists stabbed him one too many times with a scalpel. And Patton knew the Dark Sides would stay carefully under wraps, hiding with Deceit’s powers. They would be all right.

But Thomas. Oh, Thomas.

Patton shudders and he feels moisture build up in his eyes.

He hates himself sometimes. And now is definitely one of them.

Being the heart, being the core of Thomas’s feelings, is exhausting. Things haven’t changed since he’s been trapped in the physical plane - he still feels every emotion Thomas does, and still has an emotional range to rival the Andes.

He’s angry, then he’s sad, then he’s scared; he wants to rip out his hair and scream, he wants to curl up and never move again, he wants to sob and wail until he can’t anymore, he wants to bang his fists against the door until his hands break, he wants to escape and snap the necks of every single white-coated scientist outside -

Patton is rocked by a sudden blast of fear. Thomas’s mind races, and Patton wants to cry because for a split second he thinks he can hear Virgil through the indecipherable cacophony of Thomas’s thoughts.

But of course, it isn’t Virgil - and besides, Patton never hears words when Thomas thinks, just the feelings and inflections. Occasionally, he gets a snapshot of the scenario - this time, it’s a man with a large needle and Patton loses sight of it as it stabs into Thomas’s arm, injecting something cold into his blood.

This is a common occurrence, and Patton feels the faintest pinprick in his arm, knows that Thomas’s body is starting to shake.

Thomas’s thoughts grow sluggish and ebb away to a terrifying numb quiet. Patton shivers.

And then - like a switch has been flipped - he can’t feel anymore.

He can’t move, he can’t speak - and he can’t feel a thing.

He isn’t scared. He isn’t mad. He isn’t sad. He’s not cut off from Thomas, but this time he can’t sense Thomas’s emotions. And - and why does he need to? He doesn’t, really. In fact -

He kinda likes being numb.

(Anesthetic,) says someone who sounds a lot like Thomas, their tone questioning. There’s no one else in Patton’s cell.

(It can’t be anesthetic. You’re still awake. Anesthetic is supposed to knock you out.) Logan. He sounds confused.

Patton vaguely wonders how he can hear both Logic and Thomas with clear words. But thinking isn’t his job so he doesn’t bother getting worked up about it. 

He doesn’t know what his job is anymore.

(I can hear you,) says another voice. It’s Roman, sounding hoarse and surprised. (This is new. Is everyone okay?)

(My condition is adequate,) Logan says, and Patton knows he should answer Roman before the fanciful Side gets worried. But he can’t. Besides - he can barely remember what being worried is.

(This isn’t right. This isn’t right, what the hell was that? And - and where’s - and why -)

Virgil’s voice is panicked, and Patton can’t understand why. He’s not scared. Thomas isn’t either. But Patton can’t say anything, no mater how hard he tries to think. It’s like he has no voice now that Thomas isn’t feeling anymore.

(Thomas, this isn’t good, I - I agree with Virgil.)

Roman sounds concerned, but it’s not his job to feel so he can still talk. Patton wants to say something back, something to tell them that it’s better like this, this is the most peaceful he’s felt in days.

And Thomas laughs, for the first time in days, and Patton feels no joy accompany it. (Why? I feel fine. Come on, Virgil, lighten up!)

Patton thinks that maybe that was rude. He knows that Thomas never would’ve said that before the cold serum pumping through his veins shut Patton off.

(I can’t - I - I don’t - )

And then Virgil is screaming, cutting his own sentence in half.

Patton winces. He can feel this, and it hurts. He wishes he could sympathize.

The other Sides fall silent, drowned out by the waves of fear and panic and anxiety that crash through Thomas’s mind.

And then suddenly, the screaming stops, and Virgil is gone, silent and numb just like Patton.

Thomas blacks out, taking all of his Sides with him.


End file.
